Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1887-03-11
GOLD AND SILVER.

The fine-spun and carefully elaborated
theories of the gold-bugs are constantly
receiying rude shocks and being refuted
by the stern logic of facts. They have
insisted that the continued coinage OF
silver. added to the export of gold, could |
have but one result-that of making our
coinage exclusively silver. They have
drawn pictures, some pathetic, some
humorous, of the inconvenience when
must occur when we had nothing but
silver as a medium OF exchange. They
have imagined the Treasury vaults heaped
up to overhowing with silver dollars and
swept clean of gold coin. Tney have APP
pealed to the patriotism, the common
sense. the deliberate Judgment and the
commercial experience of the country to
avert the impending disaster and save
the nation from threatened bankruptcy.
But see how plain a tale shall put them
down. The gold now owned by the
Government amounts to $l7O,9lZ,4I5,
being the largest sum which the Govern
ment has owned since the resumption OF
specie payments, except on one single
occasion. In addition to this the IN
crease in the stock of gold for December
was almost 81 900 900, and for half the
fiscal year over $14, 100000. At the same
time the stock of silver coin has been
steadily decreasing, although coinage
goes on without interruption.
Does it REQUIRE one skilled in political
economy to interpret this? Does it need
long dry pamphlet stuffed with
statistics to explain such a state OF
things? We think not. The obvious
explanation of the increase of gold in the
treasury and the decrease in silver is
that the country is satisfied with bi-
netallism, and that the intense devotion
to gold, which the monometallists would
have us believe to be populary sentl-
ment, is really confined to a Wall Street
CLIQUE of bondholders and those peculiarly
interested in European finances, and to
few college professors and monetary
theorists who have devoured more learn
ing than they can digest. The plain truth
is that silver is the peoples money anc
that they are satisfied with it for every
dav purposes of trade and commerce
Undoubtedly, if we were all millionaires
we should prefer currency almost ex
clusively gold, for then we should mo-
concern ourselves with petty transaction
of any sort. But we are not, and wheI
one wants to buy meat or groceries o
milk or any Of the thousand little thlng
used and needed every day, he find
that silver is the kind of money he wants
and finds, too, that the dealer in thes
domestic commodities is very willing t(
take silver for his goods.
One mistake that monometallists max
is that they take telescope view OF tn
conditions of life, whereas miscroscop
would be used to better advantage. The
plant themselves upon the lofty height
Of pure thought and abstruse speculate
and turn their thirty-six-inch refractC
upon the common affairs of life, unit
everything is not only magnifed, bI
largely exaggerated. They proceed upo
the theory that it is the great commerce.
interests and transactions which make
the sum of human affairs, whereas c
the contrary it is the myriads OF lit
things and small transactions which for
large majority of everything that
done in every walk of life.
For this reason every one who car
fully considers the money question mui
be forced to the conclusion that there
no necessary or even possible contii'
between gold and silver in the Unite
States, but each has its appointed fun
ton. Every one, we say, except tt
bigoted monometalists and illogical tn
orists: and as to them, "Ephraim
Joined to his idols, let him alone. IS
Francisco Chronicle.